2. The course will develop a framework on
which professional and ethical issues can
be analyzed, and build up an awareness of
various views of ethical issues as well as
professionals ethical rights and
responsibilities.
3. The measure of success is how much new we
learn and if we can notice any change in the
attitudes (sensitivity) to the problems of
professional ethics.
Course: 70 % lectures, 30 % discussion
Grading (A,B,C,D,E) : 70% (Mid and final test),
30% assignment (cases, discussion)
4. Ethic and professionalism
Scope, responsibility, professionalism
Moral reasoning and code of ethics
Professionalism
Ethical dilemma, moral choices,
Code of Professional ethics
Moral framework
Stages of Moral Development
Utilitiarism, duty ethics, vitue ethics, right ethics
5. Engineering as social experimentation
Engineering experimentation
Engineers as responsible experimenters:
Consciousness, Comprehensive perspectives, Moral
autonomy , Accountability,
Commitment to safety
Safety and risk
Assessing and reducing risk
6. Workplace responsibility and right
Teamwork
Confidential and Conflict of interest
Rights of engineers, Whistleblowing
Honesty
Thrutfulness, truthworthiness, integrity
Consulting engineers
Expert witness
7. Environmental ethics
Engineering, Ecology and Economics
Ethical frameworks
Global Issues
Multinational corporations
Computer ethics and the internet
Weapon development
8. Engineers and technological concept
Cautious optimism
Moral leadership
Case study (group assignment)
Ford pinto
DC 10
Challenger
Bhopal
Etc
9. Concerns the goodness of voluntary human
conduct that affects the self or other living
things
Morality (Latin mores) usually refers to any
aspect of human action
Ethics (Greek ethos) commonly refers only to
professional behavior
10. When students enter the professional world,
they will be expected to follow an explicit
or implicit ethical code.
To responsibly confront moral issues raised
by technological activity
How to deal with ethical dilemmas in their
professional lives?
To achieve moral autonomymoral autonomy
11. Situations in which two or more moral
obligations, duties, rights, or ideals come
into conflict.
To resolve we must identify the factors,
gather facts, rank moral considerations,
consider alternative courses of actions, and
arrive at a judgement.
12. Josephson Institute of Ethics
Ethics refers to standards of
conduct . . . that indicate how one
should behave based on . .
.principles of right and wrong. As a
practical matter, ethics is about
how we meet the challenge of
doing the right thing
13. Pre-conventional Level
Whatever benefits oneself or avoids
punishment
Conventional Level
Uncritical acceptance of society’s rules
Post-conventional Level
Moral autonomy
14. Autonomous individuals think for themselves
and do not assume that customs are always
right.
They seek to reason and live by general
principles.
Their motivation is to do what is morally
reasonable for its own sake, maintaining
integrity, self-respect, and respect for others.
15. “One who breaks an unjust law must do so
openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept
the penalty. I submit that an individual who
breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust
and willingly accepts the penalty… is in reality
expressing the highest respect for the law.” Rev.
Martin Luther King, Jr. in Letter from a
Birmingham Jail, 1963.
16. Principle: Certain aspects of right and wrong
exist objectively, independent of culture or
personal opinion.
Accepting this principle is essential for ethics to
discern an objective reality rather than just
define a subjective standard.
17. Prudence (mind): to think about a moral
problem clearly and completely
Temperance (emotions): control attraction
to positive emotions
Fortitude (emotions): control aversion for
negative emotions
Justice (will): choose according to truth and
fairness.
18. People should try insofar as possible to
continue to progress in the moral life
The obligation to avoid what is bad
outweighs the obligation to do what is
good.
Or, the end does not justify the means.
19. Morality concerns the goodness of voluntary
human activity that impacts the self or other
living beings.
Assuming we have not deliberately allowed
ourselves to remain ignorant, powerless, or
indifferent, we have complete moral
responsibility for what we do with adequate
knowledge, freedom, and approval.
20. What is a “profession”?
What is “ethics”?
What is “professional ethics”?
Ethical theories
Thinking about professional ethics
Professional values
Codes of Ethics
21. It is always wrong to intentionally take an innocent
life?
The right course of action is to weigh the
consequences of action and choose the action that
leads to the greatest good for the greatest number?
22. The first is “Kantianism”
Kant: Right or wrong regardless of
consequences
The second is “Utilitarianism”
Utilitarianism: Right or wrong depending on
consequences
Most people agree with both positions
23. The hijacked plane with 200 people is approaching
a building with 50,000 people
Vote! Will you shoot down the plane?
You cannot subscribe to both principles in the case.
A true moral dilemma
Which position has the greatest weight in the
circumstances?
24. Aim to show several different ways to think through
a problem in professional ethics, rather than merely
describe what professionals say are their problems
(sociology of ethics).
“Profession”
“Ethics”
“Professional Ethics”
25. All professions are occupations, but not
all occupations are professions
Can take a broad or narrow view of what
is a “profession”
A “self-regulated occupational group
capable of legally prohibiting others
(including incompetent or unethical
members) from practising” is a narrow
view
26. Group identity
Shared education, training --
requirements for admission
Special uncommon knowledge
Knowledge used in the service of others…
positive social need
Involves individual judgment, (some)
autonomy in decisions
Adherence to certain values
Penalties for substandard performance
27. Matter of degree … there are many
“emerging professions”.
Obstacle in the way of the OHS
professional is the diverse nature of
practice with competing co-professionals.
You are not a professional until you are a
member of a group of colleagues who
have articulated a set of standards and
values and can enforce them, at the very
least, by exclusion from the group.
28. Possesses specialized knowledge and skills
Belongs to and abides by the standards of a
society
Serves an important aspect of the public good
29. Has a bachelor’s degree in engineering from
an accredited school
Performs engineering work
Is a registered P.E.
Acts in a morally responsible way while
practicing engineering
30. Must be independentMust be independent (Whitelaw)
Must serve employerMust serve employer (Florman)
Must satisfy two general criteriaMust satisfy two general criteria
(1)Attain high standards of achievement in
education, job performance, and creativity.
(2)Accept moral responsibilities to the public,
their employers, clients, colleagues, and
subordinates.
31. Skill, competency in work
Relational element – work will be
beneficial to others
Work itself doesn’t have moral status
Execution of work has moral status
Recognizing when We’re in the Realm of
Ethics
Watch the language:
Right and wrong -- Actions
Good and bad -- Motives, methods, goals
32. How we view ourselves:
Problem-solvers
Engineering is enjoyable; esprit de corps
Engineering benefits people, provides a public service
Engineering provides the most freedom of all professions
(Florman, 1976)
Engineering is an honorable profession
33. How the public views engineering:
The Engineer’s Role
Engineers as Utilitarians
Engineers as Positivists
Applied Physical Scientists
This role does not mesh well with an overarching
“social science” bias of the public.
34. Rational, pragmatic, logical and systematic
approaches to problem solving tend to alienate the
engineer from the public
Only a 50% “Very High” or “High” rating on honesty
Consistently behind medical field and
teachers
A public relations problem, not an ethics
issue per se.
“Best Practices” to include applied social
science
35. Purpose… Helps professional decide when
faced with a problem that raises a moral
issue
Complexity … Can be many people, with
many issues involved … may be involved
history to the issues … may be an issue WHO
decides, not just WHAT decided.
36. As occupations become more specialized,
the ethical issues become more
specialized
Professional societies have increased
efforts to establish ethical codes to guide
members
Increasing public scrutiny, lack of
traditional deference
Regulatory oversight, public protection
37. The study of the moral issues and decisions
confronting individuals and organizations
engaged in engineering
The study of related questions about the
moral ideals, character, policies, and
relationships of people and corporations
involved in technological activity.
* from Martin. M. & Schinzinger, R. Ethics in Engineering (3rd
Ed.) (New York:
McGraw-Hill, 1996, pp. 2-3.
38. Where the ethical issues can arise:
Conceptualization, Design, Testing, Manufacturing,
Sales, Service
Supervision and Project Teams
Project timelines and budgets
Expectations, opinions, or judgments
Products: Unsafe or Less than Useful
Designed for obsolescence
Inferior materials or components
Unforeseen harmful effects to society
39. Other fields where ethics are critical
Medical Ethics, Legal Ethics
Business Ethics (closest to Engineering Ethics)
Scientific Ethics
An “applied ethics” domain (rather than a theoretical
analysis of philosophy)
Engineering occurs at the confluence of technology,
social science, and business
Engineering is done by people and for people
Engineers’ decisions have a impact on all three areas
in the confluence
The public nature of an engineer’s work ensures that
ethics will always play a role
40. Impacts of an engineer’s ethical decisions:
The Products & Services (safety and utility)
The Company and its Stockholders
The Public and Society (benefits to the people)
Environment (Earth and beyond)
The Profession (how the public views it)
The Law (how legislation affects the profession and
industry)
Personal Position (job, internal moral conflict)
41. Typically, good ethical decisions…
…may be just that: “good,” but rarely “great” or “ideal”
…will not always be in the best interest (irrespective of
the timeline) of all stakeholders
…are not automatic but require thought, consideration,
evaluation, and communication (much like the “design
process”)
42. Morality – making choices with reasons
Ethics – the study of HOW the choices are
made, ie “ethics is the study of morality”
Often use “ethics” and “morality”
interchangeably
43. General Ethics – individual as member of
community, broader range of issues, “top
down” principles
Professional Ethics – moral expectations
specific to the occupational group, tend
to focus on concrete “bottom up” cases
Professional Morality – what we do in our
occupational lives
Professional Ethics – the study of what we
do in our professional lives
44. Law – the authority is external
Ethics – the authority is internal
Much of law, but not all, is based in morality
Sometimes law is unethical
Much of what is ethical is unaddressed by
legal rules
45. There is a moral duty to obey the law (with
some caveats)
Professional ethics covers more issues than
the law
One can be unethical without behaving
illegally
Rare – ethically must resist the law
46. Be very careful not to embark in an exercise in
ethical analysis when there is a clear legal rule
in the situation that trumps the entire process
of ethical analysis.
Be very careful not to assume that there is a
legal rule for every situation. Often the gaps
between legal rules require one to switch to an
ethical analysis.
47. Descriptive ethics – “What IS”
Prescriptive ethics – “What OUGHT to be”
We do not seek to study professional ethics as a
sociologist would, but to assist with choices about
what one ought to do.
2002 British study by Burgess and Mullen: 77% of
hygienists had witnessed ethical misconduct by
colleagues within last 5 years.
48. Most common cases:
Plagiarism
Confidentiality of data
Faked data
Criticizing colleagues for gain
Holding back, disguising data
Destruction of data
Not reporting incident deliberately
49. Patricia Logan 2001, USA. Reported reasons for
misbehavior, hygienists:
Economic pressure
Transition from employee to consultant results
in compromises
Working in foreign countries
Lack of legal standards
Working on contingency basis
Decrease in job security
50. Two very different ways of reasoning.
Descriptive, or scientific, studies of
professional ethics help us identify issues that
need to be included in Code of Ethics and in
educational programs. Gives us our “case
studies”.
51. “What OUGHT to be”
The words used are different… good-bad,
right-wrong, just-unjust
Thought processes use values, goods, virtues,
rules, ethical theories, moral reasons, moral
explanations, and moral decisions.
Editor's Notes
What is Engineering Ethics?
The study of moral issues and decisions confronting individuals engaged in engineering.
The study of related questions about the moral ideas, character, policies, and relationships of people and organizations invoved in technical activity.Ethos (Greek) = mores (Latin) meaning “customs”
What is Engineering Ethics?
The study of moral issues and decisions confronting individuals engaged in engineering.
The study of related questions about the moral ideas, character, policies, and relationships of people and organizations invoved in technical activity.Ethos (Greek) = mores (Latin) meaning “customs”
What is Engineering Ethics?
The study of moral issues and decisions confronting individuals engaged in engineering.
The study of related questions about the moral ideas, character, policies, and relationships of people and organizations invoved in technical activity.Ethos (Greek) = mores (Latin) meaning “customs”
What is Engineering Ethics?
The study of moral issues and decisions confronting individuals engaged in engineering.
The study of related questions about the moral ideas, character, policies, and relationships of people and organizations invoved in technical activity.Ethos (Greek) = mores (Latin) meaning “customs”
What is Engineering Ethics?
The study of moral issues and decisions confronting individuals engaged in engineering.
The study of related questions about the moral ideas, character, policies, and relationships of people and organizations invoved in technical activity.Ethos (Greek) = mores (Latin) meaning “customs”
Pre-conventional LevelExamples are children, some adults. Also some of us do some things at this level, e.g.: obey the speed laws.
Conventional Level:Examples are the the Nazi’s Holocaust--Nuremberg Trials.Civil rights struggles in the South of the 50s and 60sApartheid in South Africa
Post-Conventional LevelTo stand up for what one believesTo reach Moral Autonomy
Examples are:
Casius Clay (Mohammed Ali) and the Viet nam War
Mahatma Ghandi in India-- got independence by peaceful means
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.--Civil Rights
Rev. King was in jail for violating Alabama's segregation laws. He was writing to other ministers who had criticized him for breaking the law.
Rev. King was in jail for violating Alabama's segregation laws. He was writing to other ministers who had criticized him for breaking the law.
These are not necessary or sufficient conditions.
The first two are opposing extremes. The third one attempts to include those working for employers (chemical companies, engineering firms) and those in private practice.
Here “responsible” means to be
regularly concerned to do the right thing
conscientious and diligent in meeting obligations
to be counted on to carry out duties and be considerate of others
a conscientious effort to meet the responsibilities inherent in one’s work
capable of knowing how to act in morally appropriate ways
a willingness to be accountable for one’s conduct
a synonym of “praiseworthy” as opposed to “blameworthy.”